The present disclosure relates to medical facilities having headwalls with one or more connectors that enable communication between a patient support apparatus (e.g. a bed, stretcher, cot, recliner, wheelchair, etc.) and one or more devices that are coupled to a headwall communication interface (e.g. a nurse call system, entertainment controls, room controls, etc.).
Medical facilities, such as hospitals, typically include a headwall having one or more outlets and/or other types of connectors into which the plugs of cables connected to medical devices can be inserted. For example, headwalls will typically include at least one outlet that interfaces with a nurse-call system and which is designed to accept a cable from a hospital bed, or from a hand-held pendant positioned on the bed. When the cable is plugged into this outlet, a patient positioned on the bed is able to press a button to summon a nurse and/or to communicate aurally with the nurse.
Existing headwall connectors also typically communicate with one or more environmental controls, such as one or more controls for in-room televisions, room lights, and/or electrically movable curtains. When the appropriate device and its associated cable are plugged into the headwall connector from a bed, pendant, or other device, a person is able to control the environmental control via the device (e.g. bed, pendant, or other device). Thus, for example, a patient positioned on a bed is able to control the volume of a television in the room via controls on the bed due to the proper cable being connected from the bed to the headwall. In some instances, a single cable is plugged into a single connector on the headwall and used for communicating both with the nurse call system of the medical facility, and for communicating with the one or more environmental controls. In such instances, the headwall connector is coupled to a room interface board that forwards the environmental control signals to the appropriate environmental control unit, and forwards the nurse call signals to the appropriate component of the nurse call system.